Friday, August 31, 2012

Sandusky Fits Sex Predator Profile, Report Says, Father Benedict Groeschel, American Friar, Claims Teens Seduce Priests In Some Sex Abuse Cases

Sandusky Fits Sex Predator Profile, Report Says
By MARK SCOLFORO 08/30/12

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has been recommended for designation as a sexually violent predator, a legal status that would require lifetime registration with authorities, according to a person who has read an assessment board's report to a judge in the case.

The recommendation from the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board was disclosed to The Associated Press on Thursday by the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the report's confidential nature....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/sandusky-fits-sex-predator-profile_n_1844831.html


Father Benedict Groeschel, American Friar, Claims Teens Seduce Priests In Some Sex Abuse Cases   The Huffington Post   By Meredith Bennett-Smith 08/29/2012

In a recent interview with the National Catholic Register, Father Benedict Groeschel, of the conservative Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, said that teens act as seducers in some sexual abuse cases involving priests....

In an interview with the National Catholic Register posted this week, Groeschel was asked about his work with the very conservative Friars of the Renewal, a breakaway order he founded 25 years ago. The conversation took an interesting turn, however, when the editor asked about the 78-year-old's work with sexual abuse perpetrators.

"People have this picture in their minds of a person planning to — a psychopath," Groeschel said. "But that’s not the case. Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer."

Pressed for clarification, the New York State-based religious leader explained that kids looking for father figures might be drawn to priests to fill an emotional hole in their lives.

Furthermore, Groeschel expressed a belief that most of these "relationships" are heterosexual in nature, and that historically sexual relationships between men and boys have not been thought of as crimes.

"If you go back 10 or 15 years ago with different sexual difficulties — except for rape or violence — it was very rarely brought as a civil crime. Nobody thought of it that way... And I’m inclined to think, on [a priest's] first offense, they should not go to jail because their intention was not committing a crime."

The fact that the interview was published, without comment, in the National Catholic Register was significant due to the publication's affiliation with disgraced Legion of Christ religious order.

In 1995 the legion was part of a group of investors who saved the National Catholic Register from closing. (The Legion later sold the paper, which is now owned by the Eternal World Television Network.)The powerful clerical order was also part of one of the most damaging scandals, involving its one-time leader, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, the highest-profile Catholic clergyman ever to be accused of sexual abuse, according to Time magazine....

Groeschel is an influential voice in the American Dioceses and continues to maintain a high-profile in the church, writing several books and appearing weekly on a religious television network....

Update: National Catholic Register has taken down the interview and Groeschel has offered this statement:

I apologize for my comments. I did not intend to blame the victim. A priest (or anyone else) who abuses a minor is always wrong and is always responsible. My mind and my way of expressing myself are not as clear as they used to be. I have spent my life trying to help others the best that I could. I deeply regret any harm I have caused to anyone.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/29/father-benedict-groeschel-teens-seduce-priests_n_1840900.html

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Belgian woman in child-sex case enters convent - Marc Dutroux case

Belgian woman in child-sex case enters convent
Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Brussels --
A woman who let two 8-year-old girls starve in a cellar and helped her pedophile husband carry out horrific abuse of other girls went from prison to a convent Tuesday, outraging Belgians who opposed the early release of one of the country's most despised criminals.

The nation's highest court approved Michelle Martin's release after serving 16 years of a 30-year prison term for her role in the mid-1990s kidnappings, rapes and killings by her then-husband, Marc Dutroux....

The Dutroux case horrified the nation and led to widespread changes in Belgian police procedures. Police had visited the home twice in the mid-1990s and didn't find the kidnapped girls, although they heard voices, and ignored a letter from Dutroux's mother that expressed concern her son was abusing young girls.

Dutroux, an unemployed electrician and convicted pedophile on parole at the time of the crimes, was arrested in 1996 and convicted eight years later of abducting, imprisoning and raping six girls between the summers of 1995 and 1996. He was also found guilty of murdering two of the six girls, who ranged in age from 8 to 19 years old. He is serving a life sentence.

The last two of Dutroux's kidnap victims were found alive in his basement a few days after his arrest.

Martin was accused of conspiracy in the kidnappings and imprisonment leading to the deaths of the two starved girls, who were held in a secret dungeon specially built in a cellar. Martin said she had been too scared to go into the cellar to feed them while Dutroux was serving a four-month jail term for car theft.

One year after they were kidnapped, the bodies of the two were found in the garden of a house that Dutroux owned.

Martin has depicted herself as a passive culprit of the psychopath Dutroux, but was blamed for aiding her husband and letting the young girls die.
http://www.sfgate.com/world/article/Belgian-woman-in-child-sex-case-enters-convent-3822915.php



for more information on the Dutroux case:
http://ritualabuse.us/2008/10/issue-56-may-2004/
http://ritualabuse.us/2008/10/issue-57-july-2004/

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

How to fight child abuse by R. A. Dickey, Twenty-Two Faces - Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalities Judy Byington


Column: How to fight child abuse By R.A. Dickey and Grier Weeks

If there is one image from the Penn State scandal that should haunt our American memory, it's not Joe Paterno's fall, Jerry Sandusky's grinning face or the specter of what former assistant football coach Mike McQueary saw.

....For centuries, adults who preyed on children hid in the shadows. For every sexual predator witnessed in the act by an outsider such as McQueary, there were thousands who walked among us unsuspected and untouched.

Then the advent of the Internet dramatically changed this. Individuals with a sexual attraction to children began surfacing en masse, as they went online to do what millions of their fellow Americans were doing: accessing sexual content. But the content these individuals accessed — video and photos of children being raped, tortured and sexually displayed (child pornography) — was illegal.

By 2006, congressional hearings revealed hundreds of thousands of these criminals in the U.S. alone. Law enforcement officers at the helm of a national online nerve center told Congress that they identified 300,000 suspects in 2008. Each day, thousands of suspects were being logged and plotted on maps. More alarming, an estimated one in three was a hands-on offender, with local child victims.

Yet, the vast majority were not being investigated at all because of the lack of law enforcement funding. Children who could be rescued were instead ignored. The heroes on the front lines of this battle went home every night with the screams of children in their heads, knowing they simply didn't have the manpower to go get them.

....The 2006 Barton hearings led to a bipartisan bill, the Protect Our Children Act of 2008, sponsored by then Democratic Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., as well as Republicans John McCain, R-Ariz., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Oprah Winfrey endorsed the legislation in a one-hour show, launching more than 500,000 angry viewers at the Senate and helping ensure passage.

The act authorized major increases in spending for combating child sexual exploitation and child rescue. For a few years, progress was dramatic. By 2010, law enforcement agencies were reporting they had identified and rescued 2,182 children in a single year, though the actual number was likely 10 times higher.

....This year, the Obama administration asked Congress to cut Protect Act spending by 27%. The House and Senate have proposed spending at below 2010 levels.

....There's no greater feeling, on or off the field, than protecting a child. Please join us in demanding that Congress and the Obama administration properly fund a war against those who prey on our children.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-08-27/child-pornography-penn-state-abuse/57354658/1

Twenty-Two Faces - Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalities Judy Byington MSW, LCSW, ret.

Twenty-Two Faces documents how the only known survivor-intended-victim of a modern-day human sacrifice ceremony six year-old Jenny Hill, overcomes multiplicity resulting from brainwashing, her perpetrators having subjected the child to insidious mind-control techniques culled from Nazi Germany. As is the case for thousands of children across the globe unfortunate enough to be born into families still practicing these aberrant religious rites. Using a lone resource: faith in God, Jenny tries to make sense of a life where she jumps from one day to the next. Eventually with help of a psychologist: she takes charge of her divided mind by facing alter personalities and their traumatic repressed memories, overcomes family-society rejection, confronts and forgives abusers, showing an ability of the human spirit to overcome against all odds, profound emotional shock and miraculously healing from severe childhood trauma. Tate Publishing May, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-1620240328  http://22faces.com/


A Brief History of Trauma as it Relates to Multiple Personalities and Ritual Abuse Judy Byington, MSW, LCSW, ret.

Multiple Personalities generally result from child abuse, where Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is more commonly found in adults who have undergone extreme stress. The underlying problem in both adults and children subjected to prolonged trauma is Dissociation, a disconnect from life events that ranges from excessive daydreaming to Post Traumatic Stress to Multiple Personalities.

Mind-control is a process of subjecting one to torture on a prolonged basis so as to develop nervous disorders, the most common in children being multiple personalities – a  system of brainwashing that was developed by Adolf Hitler during World War II.
http://22faces.com/a-brief-history-of-trauma-as-it-relates-to-multiple-personalities-and-satanic-ritual-abuse-judy-byington-msw-lcsw-ret-3/

Guest Post by Judy Byington, author of "22 Faces"
Tracee Gleichner June 21, 2012
Judy Byington, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., ret, has dedicated her life to humanizing and raising public awareness about the little known effects of ritual abuse and mind-control programming that tragically cause formation of multiple personalities in children....

A Utah woman claims she underwent mind-control, survived a human sacrifice ceremony, witnessed another child's homicide and was not alone in her allegations of ritual abuse according to her newly released biography, Twenty-Two Faces: Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalities (Tate Publishing, Oklahoma).

Hill states that on June 21, 1965 she was taken to a "Black Temple" rite in Garden Grove, California where the six year-old was strapped to an alter, tortured and forced to watch the murder of another six year-old....


Twenty-Two Faces author Judy Byington, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., ret., secured an exclusive interview with Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints General Authority Elder Glen Pace. In 1990 Pace sent a memo to President Ezra Taft Benson summarizing a church committee's year of interviews with what was to be over a hundred ritual abuse survivors in the U.S. and Mexico, exposing, "45 members witnessed human sacrifice."

These shocking disclosures were further verified by the Utah Governor's Task Force on Ritual Abuse co-chaired by Noemi Mattis, J.D., Ph.D. During the same time as the LDS report, community leaders surveyed therapists and legal entities throughout the state. These two evaluations resulted in hiring of Satanic Ritual Abuse Investigators at the Utah Attorney General's office headed by Lieutenant Mike King. King later transferred to Homeland Security to do ritual abuse investigation training across the nation....
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/printFriendly/281191

Monday, August 27, 2012

Should Those Who Download Child P_rn Pay the Victims, Rapists Seeking Custody



Pricing Amy: Should Those Who Download Child Pornography Pay the Victims?
Sep 1, 2012 By Lorelei Laird

....It started like so many other instances of child exploitation: Amy’s uncle showed her pornography and then began raping her on a regular basis.

Amy recalls telling him the penetration hurt, but it kept happening. And like most child victims, she trusted him when he told her it was a normal thing adults do with children, that he loved her and that it was their special secret, according to her victim impact statement. The uncle was eventually arrested and incarcerated. Amy grew into her teenage years and, with the help of therapy, seemed to be growing into a relatively happy, healthy, normal teenager, according to court documents. Then the other shoe dropped: Amy learned that her uncle had photographed the abuse and put the images online, creating a permanent record of her agonizing abuse.

It’s not exactly clear when Amy’s pictures began circulating online, but court records indicate the digital images date back to as early as 1998.

Amy, now in her early 20s, began sliding backward in her recovery. Court filings indicate that she suffers from depression, is withdrawn and anxious, and has a history of alcohol abuse. She’s been unable to succeed in college or work and is reluctant to socialize. While some experiences still trigger bad memories, she’s more concerned about being recognized in public by people who downloaded “her” images....

Under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, the government must notify Amy and other child pornography victims anytime anyone is arrested by federal authorities for possessing their images. Her attorney, James Marsh of New York City, says his office has received at least 1,500 required notices of federal prosecutions for possession of those images. “The day after we were retained in 2008, we had someone open up all these notices she received in the calendar years 2006 and 2007,” Marsh says. “It took two days just to open the envelopes.”....

Almost any time Marsh receives a notice of prosecution on Amy’s behalf, he files a formal request for more than $3 million to cover all of Amy’s psychological treatment, lost income and attorney fees. Marsh believes Amy is the first child pornography victim to use federal crime victim restitution laws in this way, and one of a very few nationwide. He knows of two other victims pursuing this strategy, including “Vicky,” another young woman whose victimization as a child is recorded in widely traded images. A third victim’s lawyer pursuing a similar strategy did not return calls for this article....

Masha’s Law, part of the 2006 Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which permits young adults to sue those who download images of their childhood sexual abuse.....
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/pricing_amy_should_those_who_download_child_pornography_pay_the_victims/


American Bar Association Journal—Pricing Amy: Should Those Who Download Child Pornography Pay the Victims? By James R. Marsh on August 27, 2012

This feature article about the Marsh Law Firm's efforts to secure restituiton for victims of child pornography appears in this month's American Bar Association Journal which is read by over one million attorneys and corporate counsel worldwide. Here are several excerpts from Pricing Amy: Should Those Who Download Child Pornography Pay the Victims?

    It’s not exactly clear when Amy’s pictures began circulating online, but court records indicate the digital images date back to as early as 1998.

    Amy and her lawyer are, however, fighting back. Her battle is part of a series of cases—now wending their way through the federal courts—trying to help the victims of child pornography by seeking financial restitution, not from the perpetrator but from the untold number of people who subsequently download their pornographic images.

    Amy could be considered the leader in this legal trend. Her pictures are among the most widely traded in the underground world of online child pornography.

    Using the restitution provisions of the Violence Against Women Act, Marsh has begun utilizing the courts to request financial restitution from those convicted of possessing images of Amy’s child sexual abuse.
http://www.childlaw.us/2012/08/aba-journal-pricing-amy-should.html



Imagine You Were Raped. Got Pregnant. Then Your Rapist Sought Custody.

It happens—and in many states there are no laws to keep rapists from terrorizing their victims all over again. Read on, Todd Akin.
—By Dana Liebelson and Sydney Brownstone  Fri Aug. 24, 2012

The debate over Rep. Todd Akin's widely condemned comments on "legitimate rape" has largely centered on abortion and Republican efforts to outlaw the procedure, even in cases of rape. But the controversy has also uncovered a little-discussed issue: When some rape victims do choose to give birth to a child conceived through sexual assault, they find that the legal door is left wide open for their victimization to continue. It sounds unfathomable, but in many states the law makes it possible for rapists to assert their parental rights and use custody proceedings as a weapon against their victims....

Part of the problem is that many rapes go unprosecuted. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, only 9 out of every 100 rapes are prosecuted and just 5 lead to a felony conviction. But of the 19 states that have laws addressing the custody of rape-conceived children, 13 require proof of conviction in order to waive the rapist's parental rights. Two more states have provisions on the issue that only apply if the victim is a minor or, in one of those cases, a stepchild or adopted child of the rapist. Another three states don't have laws that deal with custody of a rapist's child specifically, but do restrict the parental rights of a father or mother who sexually abused the other parent.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/rapist-seeks-child-custody-shauna-prewitt  

Sunday, August 26, 2012

2012 Ritual Abuse Conference Transcripts

Grief — The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Transcendent
http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2012-conference/grief-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly-and-the-transcendent/
Janet Thomas has been in active recovery from the effects of ritual abuse for more than 25 years. Her book, “Day Breaks Over Dharamsala–A Memoir of Life Lost and Found” chronicles her personal journey. “The Battle in Seattle” an earlier book, chronicles the global struggle for justice that we are now seeing rise.  She writes and teaches writing in India and in the U.S.

My Life and Attitudes Before and After My Recovery
http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2012-conference/my-life-and-attitudes-before-and-after-my-recovery/
Dave Staffen was satanically abused for over 50 years by those he loved and trusted, as well as others who were paid to harm him for his refusal, as a child to join their cult. Dave hopes his story and recovery will help others by giving them hope and courage.


Recent Child Abuse Crimes and Efforts to Unite Survivors
http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2012-conference/recent-child-abuse-crimes-and-efforts-to-unite-survivors/
Neil Brick is a survivor of Masonic based Ritual Abuse and MK-ULTRA. He is the editor of S.M.A.R.T. – A Ritual Abuse Newsletter.

Friday, August 24, 2012

422 sex abuse claims filed against Christian Brothers

422 sex abuse claims filed against Christian Brothers

Roughly 160 originate from Newfoundland and Labrador; religious order declared bankruptcy in 2011 CBC News Aug 23, 2012

The final number for claims against the Christian Brothers in North America is in, surprising even some of the lawyers handling them.  Christian Brothers entities in North America declared bankruptcy last year. The deadline for filing suit against the order expired Aug. 1. The total number of claims approved is 422. About 160 are from Newfoundland and Labrador. The rest originate from the United States....

The claims are for alleged sexual abuse only. Those from this province go back as far as 1940 and continue into the early 1960s. About a third of the American claims come from Washington state where the brothers had an orphanage. Another third come from New York state. The rest originate from places as scattered as New Jersey, Illinois, Montana, California and Hawaii.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2012/08/23/nl-christian-brothers-claims-823.html

Upcoming Webinar: Sat, Sept 8 Janet Thomas "The Spirit of Healing"

Upcoming Webinar:

Saturday, September 8
12:00 noon Pacific Time
Presenter: Janet Thomas
"The Spirit of Healing"


Janet Thomas will discuss her book, "Day Breaks Over Dharamsala ­ A Memoir of Life Lost and Found," a journey through spiritual healing from mind control/ritual/sexual abuse. The deep dilemma for survivors of extreme abuse is the fundamental estrangement from the sacred self. How do we reclaim it? Integrate it? Restore the sense of a spirited and nurturing self? How do we connect to the place inside us ­ beyond and beneath our brilliant minds ­that nurtures and sustains us in our daily lives and in our relationships? These questions, and their answers, will be shared and explored.

Janet Thomas has been in active and conscious healing from ritual abuse/mind control experimentation for 25 years. Her parallel lives include many years as a poet, playwright, activist, magazine editor and author of non-fiction books, including "The Battle in Seattle ­ The Story Behind and Beyond the WTO Demonstrations." She lives and teaches in India and on an island in the Pacific Northwest.

REGISTRATION

Registration closes Thursday evening September 6, 2012
 

To reserve a space in the webinar, e-mail Shamai at shamai@survivorship.org   and give her this information:

1. Your name
2. The webinar you wish to attend: "The Spirit of Healing"
3. Amount and method of payment  (check, PayPal, money order)
4. Your preferred e-mail address (so we can send you instructions)
5. The name you will be using for the webinar. (This does not have to be your real name or your message board screen name.)

You will receive a confirmation email immediately and an invitation link and instructions after the registration closes
 
COST

Webinars are on a sliding scale from $50.00 to full scholarship (while we offer full scholarships for webinars please consider paying whatever you are able to. Even $5 will help to cover the cost of the webinar provider). Please remember to factor in the cost of the telephone call if you don’t have a computer headset. The PayPal button is near the bottom of the page at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html

If you wish to pay by check please send it to: Survivorship, Family Justice Center, 470 27th Street, Oakland, CA 94612.
 
PAST WEBINARS

Survivorship members may listen to past webinars in the members’ section.
We strive to present all webinars in our archives, and sometimes, for technical reasons, we are unable to.

For information on joining Survivorship, go to http://www.survivorship.org/about/membership.html 

Complete details on all our webinars are at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact Shamai@survivorship.org

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Former Pacoima teacher pleads no contest to molesting 13 students

Former Pacoima teacher pleads no contest to molesting 13 students

Paul Chapel III, a former third-grade teacher at Pacoima's Telfair Elementary, faces 25 years to life in prison, the L.A. County district attorney's office says.

By Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times

August 21, 2012

A former Telfair Elementary teacher pleaded no contest Monday to molesting 13 students at the Pacoima school and faces 25 years to life in prison, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said.

As a preliminary hearing was to begin for Paul Chapel III, he pleaded no contest to 13 counts of lewd acts on a child, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Elena Abramson.

"They were all students at Telfair, aged 8 and 9.... Some of them were students in his class and others he met outside the classroom in breaks or after school," Abramson said. The molestations of seven females and six males occurred from September 2006 to April 2011.

Prosecutors last fall charged Chapel, 51, with molesting four students. Los Angeles Unified school officials waited until February to tell parents about the third-grade teacher's arrest, however, doing so after two teachers at Miramonte Elementary School accused of molestation were arrested and reporters questioned the district about other teachers removed for similar accusations.

The school district fired Chapel in March. In May prosecutors charged him with molesting nine additional students. Some of the victims were in San Fernando Superior Court on Monday, prepared to testify.

Lawsuits filed by two of the victims against the school district say Chapel kissed the children and fondled their genitals.

Court documents alleged that the district ignored repeated complaints about Chapel and allowed him to return to work despite several red flags in his history. He had previously left a private school after allegedly making inappropriate remarks during a sex education class. He was tried but not convicted in a 1997 alleged molestation....
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0821-teacher-abuse-20120821,0,7075525.story

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Ritual Abuse Conference Podcasts, EMDR for DID RA/MC clients

Smart-Talks Podcast Blog
This is a collection of talks given at the annual SMART conference in Connecticut. Speakers present to tell their stories of their experiences with ritual abuse and/or mind control, their experiences treating patients with such backgrounds, or to raise awareness of the various issues surrounding recovery from ritual abuse/mind control of efforts made to raise awareness with the general public of this issue.
http://smart-talkspodcastblog.blogspot.com/


 
The 2012 EMDRIA Conference “EMDR & Attachment: Healing Developmental Trauma” October 4th – 7th in Washington, D.C., at the Crystal Gateway Marriott.

Session 434 - Treating Dissociation, Ritual Abuse and Mind Control from an Attachment Perspective  Carolyn Settle, MSW, LCSW; Soozi Bolte, LPC, LISAC

Using EMDR as an integrative therapeutic approach from an attachment and developmental trauma lens, this presentation will give practical strategies for treating clients with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) symptoms who have experienced Ritual Abuse and Mind Control (RA/MC).  Infant disorganized attachment is an important precursor to adult dissociation and perhaps even more of a predictor of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) than severe trauma alone (van der Kolk). RA/MC programming will be explained so the clinician understands the layers of complexity in treating these dissociative symptoms and ego states. http://www.emdriaconference.com/

Monday, August 20, 2012

Australia launches slavery inquiry

Australia launches slavery inquiry
20 August 2012

The United Nations estimates more than two and a half million people across the globe are victims of slavery

Slavery might be an ancient practice, but it's also one with some very modern dimensions, and according police it's alive and well in Australia.  http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/onairhighlights/australia-launches-slavery-inquiry/1001492

Rep. Todd Akin's ‘Legitimate rape’ comment and the reaction

Rep. Todd Akin: The Statement and the Reaction
By LORI MOORE  August 20, 2012

The sequence of events after Representative Todd Akin, Republican of Missouri, commented to a St. Louis television station on pregnancy as a result of rape.

Sunday

11:24 A.M. KTVI-TV posts to its Web site an interview with Mr. Akin in which he is asked whether he believes abortion is justified in cases of rape and replies that rape does not result in pregnancy. Twitter soon erupts with outrage and links to the interview.

“It seems to be, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, it’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.”

4:28 P.M. Senator Claire McCaskill, the Democrat whose Senate seat Mr. Akin is seeking, releases a statement denouncing his comments.

“As a former prosecutor, Claire McCaskill has worked closely with hundreds of rape victims and intimately understands their trauma and pain. It is that experience that makes Akin’s statements so outrageous.”

4:59 P.M. Mr. Akin releases a statement saying that he misspoke in the interview.

“I believe deeply in the protection of all life, and I do not believe that harming another innocent victim is the right course of action. I also recognize that there are those who, like my opponent, support abortion, and I understand I may not have their support in this election.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/us/politics/rep-todd-akin-legitimate-rape-statement-and-reaction.html

AUGUST 19, 2012 - Akin Statement on "Jaco Report" Interview
"In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it's clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year.  Those who perpetrate these crimes are the lowest of the low in our society and their victims will have no stronger advocate in the Senate to help ensure they have the justice they deserve." http://www.akin.org/updates/akin-statement-jaco-report-interview

‘Legitimate rape’ comment was not a misstatement. It’s a worldview 
By LAURA HELMUTH Monday, 08.20.12

Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri, the Republican candidate for the Missouri Senate race, told a St. Louis news station on Sunday that “legitimate rape” rarely causes pregnancy: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

He later took it back....In case anybody missed this dig at the “no means no” crowd, “legitimate rape” is a coded phrase meant to distinguish between a stranger attacking you in a parking garage, or, say, your date or your youth pastor doing the same. If you’re tipsy or wearing a short skirt, it’s not rape-rape, etc.

The statement was actually intended to soften Akin’s absolute opposition to abortion, even in the case of rape or incest. Why bother to have loopholes for such conditions when they’re going to be so rare, goes his thinking? As Talking Points Memo notes, the congressman has long suspected that rape and abortion laws are less likely to protect women from abuse than to allow them to be abusive:

Akin’s past includes praising a militia group linked to anti-abortion extremism in the 1990s and voting against creating a sex-offender registry in 2005. Back in 1991, as a state legislator, Akin voted for an anti-marital-rape law, but only after questioning whether it might be misused “in a real messy divorce as a tool and a legal weapon to beat up on the husband,” according to a May 1 article that year in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch....
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/20/2960507/legitimate-rape-comment-was-not.html

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Lawyer doesn't remember stealing paintings - Dissociative Amnesia

Lawyer doesn't remember stealing paintings Thu Aug 16, 2012

Michael Gerard Sullivan, 54, has pleaded guilty to stealing two paintings from the Katoomba Fine Art Gallery in December 2008....CCTV vision clearly shows Mr Sullivan stealing two James Willebrant paintings between courses.

During his court case Mr Sullivan's lawyers tendered two psychiatric reports which concluded he had dissociative amnesia and his actions were totally out of character.

The court heard the disorder caused him to take on the identity of an art thief and not remember his actions

Judge Jennifer English accepted the diagnosis, saying Mr Sullivan had previously lived an exemplary life.

She did not record a conviction.
  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-16/lawyer-does-not-remember-stealing-paintings/4202708


The Lawyer Who Forgot He Was a Thief

August 16, 2012 By Joe Palazzolo

Michael Gerard Sullivan, a lawyer in Sydney, Australia, was dining one night in 2008 at an art gallery restaurant when, according to the security cameras that recorded him, he excused himself between courses and stole two paintings worth $14,500.

Mr. Sullivan, who previously worked at some of the country’s top firms – including Freehills, Gadens and Mallesons (now King & Wood Mallesons after a big merger earlier this year) – pleaded guilty, with one caveat: He said he didn’t remember committing the crime....

The psychiatrists said Mr. Sullivan, who faced up to seven years in jail, was playing the character of an art thief. Australia’s ABC News reported Thursday that Judge English accepted Mr. Sullivan’s defense.

Judge English dismissed the charges but placed Mr. Sullivan on a two-year good behavior bond, saying he had lived an otherwise exemplary life, according to the ABC report.

The Cleveland Clinic, by the way, describes dissociative amnesia thus:

Dissociative amnesia occurs when a person blocks out certain information, usually associated with a stressful or traumatic event, leaving him or her unable to remember important personal information. With this disorder, the degree of memory loss goes beyond normal forgetfulness and includes gaps in memory for long periods of time or of memories involving the traumatic event.
  http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/08/16/the-lawyer-who-forgot-he-was-a-thief/



Dissociative Amnesia
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/dissociative_disorders/hic_dissociative_amnesia.aspx

Friday, August 17, 2012

Sandusky accusers describe 'rituals' of abuse

Sandusky accusers describe 'rituals' of abuse By Richard Dool  Thu June 14, 2012

Another disturbing and graphic day in court as three more alleged sexual abuse victims took the stand in the Jerry Sandusky trial.  Victims 10, 7 and 5 all described what they say was years of abuse. They described "rituals" that Sandusky would allegedly perform before attacking them. http://www.hlntv.com/video/2012/06/13/sandusky-accusers-describe-rituals-abuse 



Penn State Scandal - Witness: Sandusky had ritual before molesting me
By Graham Winch  Tue June 12, 2012

The man known as Victim 1 testified Tuesday morning that Jerry Sandusky had a ritual in which Sandusky would blow on his stomach like a baby, and then the sexual abuse would begin.

Victim 1 said he was 11 years old when he met Sandusky through his charity, The Second Mile, in 2004 or 2005. Eventually, the witness said, he stayed over at Sandusky's house, and that's where the molestation occurred.  http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/06/12/victim-sandusky-went-through-ritual-molesting-me

Thursday, August 16, 2012

'Highly Incriminating' Evidence in Jerry Sandusky Case Could Lead to New Charges
By COLLEEN CURRY Aug. 16, 2012


Prosecutors in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case said they had a "great deal" of "highly incriminating" evidence they never brought up during Sandusky's trial, evidence that could be related to pending criminal charges.

The statements are part of a transcript released Thursday from a closed-door meeting held in June, after Sandusky had been found guilty of 45 counts of child sex abuse.

In the meeting, Frank Fina, Pennsylvania's deputy attorney general, said that the state had investigative reports as well as testimony from unnamed victims in the case that were not brought up in trial and should remain secret because of the ongoing investigation.

"We turned over transcripts of other potential victims and transcripts relating to the Penn State University and some of the potential events involving Penn State's connection with this case that I think would be highly sought by the media and that would not be in the best interests, again, of anybody, especially potentially ongoing matters to be disclosed," Fina said, according to the transcript.

The attorney general has not commented on who the ongoing investigation might be targeting.....

http://abcnews.go.com/US/highly-incriminating-evidence-jerry-sandusky-penn-state-sealed/story?id=17019014#.UC2f_aDw80k


Penn State Officials Seek to Toss Sandusky-Related Charge
Sophia Pearson,  Bloomberg News  Thursday, August 16, 2012

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Gary Schultz and Timothy Curley, the two Pennsylvania State University officials accused of lying in the Jerry Sandusky sexual-abuse case, asked a judge to dismiss the perjury charge against them claiming it lacks specificity and can’t be corroborated.

State prosecutors have failed to establish sufficient evidence and haven’t provided details on the false statements allegedly made by the men, defense lawyers argued during a hearing today in state court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

“We need more specificity as to what we are defending against” Caroline Roberto, an attorney for Curley, told Commonwealth Judge Todd Hoover.

Schultz, a former vice president in charge of university police, and Curley, the athletics director at the time, are charged with lying to a grand jury about a 2001 sex-abuse allegation against Sandusky, a former football coach, and failing to report the incident to police. A judge ruled in December that there was enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial....
 
http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloomberg/article/Penn-State-Officials-Seek-to-Toss-3793788.php

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Penn State accreditation in jeopardy over sex abuse scandal

Penn State accreditation in jeopardy over sex abuse scandal
By Michael Pearson, CNN   Wed August 15, 2012

(CNN) -- The organization that grants academic accreditation to Penn State has warned the school that it is in danger of losing that crucial status in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, the university announced this week.

The move by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education is the latest blow for the beleaguered university, which has seen its reputation clobbered and its football program hobbled after investigators found school leaders did too little to stop the abuse.

Were the commission to pull Penn State's accreditation -- which it has not done -- the school would face the loss of eligibility for federal student aid programs, guaranteed student loans, federal research grants and could lose eligibility for state aid, commission spokesman Richard Pockrass said in July....

The commission voted August 6 to place the school on warning status. Two days later, it notified Penn State officials that the school's accreditation was "in jeopardy" based on information contained in former FBI Director Louis Freeh's report on Penn State's handling of the sex-abuse allegations against Sandusky and a National Collegiate Athletic Association action against the school.

Freeh found that Penn State's leadership showed "total and consistent disregard" for youths sexually abused by Sandusky, the former assistant football coach convicted by a jury in June on 45 counts involving child sex abuse. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September. http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/14/us/penn-state-accreditation/index.html

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Witchcraft-based child abuse: Action plan launched

Witchcraft-based child abuse: Action plan launched

14 August 2012

The government has launched an action plan to tackle child abuse linked to witchcraft or religion in England.

High-profile cases include the murders of Kristy Bamu and Victoria Climbie but experts fear much more abuse is hidden.

The key aims are to raise awareness and set out "urgent practical steps to identify and protect children at risk".

Children's Minister Tim Loughton said: "Child abuse is appalling and unacceptable wherever it occurs and whatever form it takes.

"Abuse linked to faith or belief in spirits, witchcraft or possession is a horrific crime, condemned by people of all cultures, communities and faiths - but there has been a 'wall of silence' around its scale and extent.

"There can never be a blind eye turned to violence or emotional abuse or even the smallest risk that religious beliefs will lead to young people being harmed."

The government says that cases of adults inflicting physical violence or emotional harm on children they regard as witches or possessed by evil spirits occur across the world, often in sub-sects of major religions, such as Christianity....

Scotland Yard says it has conducted 83 investigations into cases of faith-based child abuse in the past decade including those of Victoria Climbie who was eight when she was murdered in 2000 and the headless torso of "Adam", a five or six-year-old boy, which was found in the Thames in 2001.

Ministers are concerned that although the investigations number just a few dozen, other abuse is going on, "under-reported and misunderstood".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19248144

Sandusky's potential ties to child pornography ring, Police bust sex traffic ring

Abuse victim assists U.S. Postal Investigative Service's probe into Jerry Sandusky's potential ties to child pornography ring 

Abuser of Philly cop provided financial support to Sandusky's Second Mile Foundation
By Christian Red / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Philadelphia product Greg Bucceroni said he reached out to the U.S. Postal Investigative Service on Tuesday in an effort to assist the agency with its investigation of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The Postal Service’s criminal investigators are reportedly looking into whether Sandusky had any ties to a pedophile ring that involved child pornography and other supporters of the Penn State football program.

Bucceroni told the Daily News last month that he was a sex abuse victim of Edward Savitz, a well-known Philly businessman and advocate for at-risk youths, who was charged with multiple counts of abuse of minors in the early 1990s. Savitz died of AIDS days before his 1993 trial was to begin, but Bucceroni said he was abused by Savitz in the late ’70s, and that Savitz introduced Bucceroni to Sandusky during a 1979 fund-raiser for The Second Mile, the charity Sandusky founded and through which he met and groomed his victims....

“(The USPS) asked me questions about Savitz, about his connection to Sandusky and about any illegal child pornography operations that I remembered hearing about or knew about,” Bucceroni, a police officer in Philadelphia’s public school system, told The News. He added that he spoke with FBI authorities last fall and again earlier this summer about Savitz.

Although he does not think Savitz was a booster for Penn State, Bucceroni said Savitz was a financial supporter of The Second Mile....
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/abuse-victim-assists-post-office-probe-jerry-sandusky-potential-ties-child-pornography-ring-article-1.1136428

Police bust sex traffic ring Aug 10, 2012

RIVERSIDE, Cal. (NBC) - A federal grand jury has indicted eight people on charges related to the sex trafficking of teenaged girls who were groomed and recruited to work as prostitutes across Southern California, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Six of the eight were arrested Thursday; two others were already in custody.

Four of the defendants are members of the Rolling 60s Crips street gang and the other four are affiliated with the gang, officials said.

Street gangs are increasingly turning to prostitution and human trafficking as a source of their revenue, said Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz.
Http://www.wcsh6.com/news/watercooler/article/210275/108/Police-bust-sex-traffic-ring 

Monday, August 13, 2012

Jerry Sandusky, Penn State Booster Sexually Abused Boys On Private Plane: Witness

Jerry Sandusky, Penn State Booster Sexually Abused Boys On Private Plane: Witness
08/13/2012

A witness interviewed by federal authorities claims convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky and a Penn State booster sexually assaulted boys on a private plane, according to an exclusive RadarOnline report....

The witness, who "has a strong tie to the booster he is accusing," claims that Sandusky and the fundraiser abused two boys on a private plane in Pennsylvania, the site reported. RadarOnline's unidentified source doesn't know whether the two boys are among Sandusky's previously identified victims.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/13/jerry-sandusky-booster-sex-abuse-private-plane_n_1772564.html

UK: 2 Arrested After Twitter Child Abuse Probe

UK: 2 Arrested After Twitter Child Abuse Probe
LONDON August 12, 2012 (AP)

British police say they have arrested a man and a woman in relation to a probe into child abuse on Twitter.

Metropolitan Police say the pair, both in their 40s, have been released to return in November pending further questioning. They were arrested at a London apartment Friday.

Police took action after receiving information from the Sunday Mirror newspaper, which carried out a probe into sex offenders operating on the social media network.

The tabloid reported that it found 200 Twitter users who openly expressed interest in sexual images of children, and that it passed on its findings to the Metropolitan Police's unit tackling pedophiles.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uk-arrested-twitter-child-abuse-probe-16987347#.UCnD4KCSk0k

Sunday, August 12, 2012

CDs now available on sale from the August ritual abuse conference

fwd with permission

The 15th Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference

August 10 - 12, 2012

DoubleTree near
Bradley International Airport
16 Ella Grasso Turnpike
Windsor Locks, CT

Internet conference information: http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/

Special price for all CDs including shipping in the US until 9/1/12 only $100.


CDs are now available of the conference speakers. Please print out the form below to order them. We hope to see you at next year’s conference.

SMART provides CD’s of conference presentations. Information on ordering is below.

Some of the topics discussed on these CDs may be triggering. These CDs are educational and not intended as therapy or treatment. Statements made on these CDs are the speaker’s own statements only and don’t necessarily represent the policies or views of conference sponsors, cosponsor, speakers, exhibitors or organizers.

To order, please print out this form, fill it out and mail it to us.

CD Order Form  for The 2012 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference

Some of the topics discussed on these CDs may be  triggering. These CDs are educational and not intended as therapy or treatment.  Statements made on these CDs are the speaker’s own statements only and don’t necessarily  represent the policies or views of conference sponsors, cosponsor, speakers, exhibitors or organizers.

1) Neil Brick -  Recent Child Abuse Crimes and Efforts to Unite Survivors

2) The History of Survivorship and its Present Day Activities

3) Shamai Currim PhD – Meaghan’s Story: A Tale of Integration

4) Maria – Free at Last

5) Janet Thomas – Grief: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the Transcendent

6) Sarah Jacqueline – Exposing Satanic Abuse

7) Alexandra – What I have learned so far.

8) Dave Staffen – My Life and Attitudes Before and After My Recovery

CDs are approximately 60 minutes long.  CDs are $12 each.
Shipping and Handling charges on CDs are $1.50 (US) for the first CD, .50 for each additional. Canada $2.00 first CD, .75 each additional, rest of world, $3.00 first CD, $1.00 each additional.

Special price until 9/1/2012- all 9 CDs only $100 US, Canada $105

Normal price shipping and handling:  US Price -all CDs - $120, Canada price - all CDs - $125

Please mail form below and checks (US Banks only, please), money orders (US) to P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 USA E-mail: SMARTNEWS@AOL.COM

Please list all CDs wanted by number. Thank you.

___________________________________________________

Name:______________________________________________________

Street: ______________________________________________________

City: ____________________________State:____________

Zip code :__________

Country: ____________________

E-mail:  (in case we have questions)

_______________________________________________

Speakers and Biographies
Please note: Listing of these speakers does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are speaking at our conference for educational value only and some may be heavy for survivors. Listening to the speakers at the conference may or may not help your recovery process, so use caution when listening to any speaker or contacting any resource mentioned in this brochure. These descriptions may be heavy for survivors to read. Please use caution while reading.

Neil Brick is a survivor of Masonic based Ritual Abuse and MK-ULTRA. He is the editor of S.M.A.R.T. – A Ritual Abuse Newsletter. His topic is: Recent Child Abuse Crimes and Efforts to Unite Survivors.

Survivorship is an international non-profit organization for survivors of sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and torture. A history of Survivorship’s last twenty plus years of work helping survivors will be presented with interviews from members of Survivorship. The presentation will include Survivorship’s present day activities and ways survivors can learn more about the organization and get involved. Survivorship, FJC,470 27th St., Oakland, Ca 94612 survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com http://www.survivorship.org

Shamai Currim PhD is a retired therapist, educator, and educational consultant. She continues to work with survivors and has been involved with children and families with special needs, AIDS hospice, and Prison communities. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of Survivorship and the Steering Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis. Her topic is: Meaghan’s Story: A Tale of Integration

Until age seven, Maria was subject to satanic abuse. Maria experienced perverse worship, torturous brain programming, sexual violence, body dislocations, and was drugged. Although relocated at age seven, molestation from random strangers and family members continued until she moved out. She lives well with profound awareness. She now experiences joy and peace. Her topic is : Free at Last

Janet Thomas has been in active recovery from the effects of ritual abuse for more than 25 years. Her book, “Day Breaks Over Dharamsala–A Memoir of Life Lost and Found” chronicles her personal journey. “The Battle in Seattle” an earlier book, chronicles the global struggle for justice that we are now seeing rise.  She writes and teaches writing in India and in the U.S.

Sarah Jacqueline freed herself through deep self-journey from years of living in hell as an alleged victim of satanic abuse to now survivor.  Born into a family of Satanists and has experienced  and seen some horrific abuse.  She speaks of hope and freeing and illusion. Her topic is: Exposing Satanic Abuse

Alexandra is a multi disciplinary therapist.  She incorporates various types of energy work, muscle testing, NLP, essential oils, and color into her cognitive behavioral therapy practice. She has an M. A. in Counseling Psychology and has been working with ritual abuse survivors for over 20 years. Her topic is: What I have learned so far.

Dave Staffen was satanically abused for over 50 years by those he loved and trusted, as well as others who were paid to harm him for his refusal, as a child to join their cult. Dave hopes his story and recovery will help others by giving them hope and courage. His topic is: My Life and Attitudes Before and After My Recovery

S.M.A.R.T. - Copyright 2012 (Entire Pamphlet and conference name) -
Permission to forward this post without headers and trailers to those that are pro-survivor.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Sandusky being investigated for child pornography


Feds probe possible Sandusky child porn ring  August 10, 2012

(CBS/AP) U.S. Postal inspectors are leading a federal investigation into whether former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky shared child pornography with other individuals, CBS News has learned.

Analyzing a computer seized from Sandusky, investigators are also looking into whether he sent "seductive letters" across state lines for sexual purposes. Some of these letters were said to be sent to some of his sexual abuse victims.

CBS News has learned that at the end of 2011, allegations were forward by the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. that Sandusky used the mails to seduce individuals to cross state lines for sexual purposes, with trips and gifts offered. Investigators are looking at 6-7 victims who might have gotten letters.

Also in March of this year, U.S. Postal inspectors were tasked to investigate The Second Mile charity, which was founded by Sandusky. That investigation is on hold, awaiting for documents to be released by the State Attorney.

A source has been told that child pornography was found in at least one of Sandusky's computers. According to the source, there is no evidence that the pornography was of his victims. There is also no mention of a ring or sharing of boys with others. CBS News investigative producer Pat Milton reports that a second source said that none of Sandusky's victims have indicated that there was shared sex with them, Sandusky and any other individual.  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57491185/feds-probe-possible-sandusky-child-porn-ring/

CBS: Sandusky being investigated for child pornography

By Michael Winter, USA TODAY   Aug 10, 2012

The Justice Department and U.S. Postal Service are investigating child pornography allegations against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted in June of sexually abusing several boys, CBS News is reporting.

One source said that child pornography was found on one of Sandusky's computers, but that there was no evidence the material involved any of Sandusky's victims.

CBS writes that authorities are also investigating whether he sent "seductive letters" across state lines to entice boys into sex, including some of his abuse victims.

Sandusky's lawyer, Joe Amendola, called the allegations "ridiculous" and said his client "continues to maintain his innocence."....
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/08/cbs-sandusky-being-investigated-for-child-pornography-/1#.UCXNNKCSk0l

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Etan Patz Case, Stop Child Abuse Now - Radio Show about Ritual Abuse

Etan Patz Case: NYPD Officials 'Absolutely Certain' Pedro Hernandez Is The Killer  08/08/2012
By Murray Weiss DNAinfo Columnist / Criminal Justice Editor

NEW YORK CITY — New details have cops "absolutely certain" Pedro Hernandez is guilty of killing six-year-old Etan Patz despite their failure to find any real proof.

The most startling new detail is that Hernandez supposedly kept a photo of the missing SoHo boy, who went missing on May 25, 1979, hidden among his personal belongings for years, law enforcement sources told “On The Inside.”....

Testimony that Hernandez kept a hidden photo of Etan would add to evidence against him that includes: Hernandez's confession to police back in May, similar admissions to others over the years and his writing “I killed him” on a picture of Etan that was shown to him by police on the day he was arrested.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/pedro-hernandez-absolutely-certain-etan-patz-killer-nypd_n_1755760.html  

Stop Child Abuse Now - Radio Show
by Bill Murray
Tue, Aug 7, 2012

Tonight's special guest is Neil Brick, abuse survivor who has been working on the issues of ritual abuse and mind control for nearly 20 years. Mr Brick launched the SMART newsletter (Stop Mind Control and Ritual Abuse Today) in 1995 to help stop ritual abuse and to help those who have been ritually abused. The web site is at www.ritualabuse.us. They work toward this goal by disseminating information on the connections between secretive organizations, ritual abuse, and mind control, by encouraging healing from the damage done by ritual abuse and mind control, and by encouraging survivors to network. In 1988, they held the first Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference, which helps unite those who have suffered from and those working to stop ritual abuse. The 15th Annual Conference (a three day event) is Aug 10 to 12, in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bill-murray/2012/08/08/stop-child-abuse-now-scan

Monday, August 6, 2012

Boy Scout files reveal repeat child abuse by sexual predators

Report: Boy Scout files reveal repeat child abuse
Associated Press – Sun, Aug 5, 2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Internal documents from the Boy Scouts of America reveal more than 125 cases in which men suspected of molestation allegedly continued to abuse Scouts, despite a blacklist meant to protect boys from sexual predators.

A Los Angeles Times review....of more than 1,200 files from 1970 to 1991 found suspected abusers regularly remained in the organization after officials were first presented with sexual misconduct allegations.

Predators moved from troop to troop because of clerical errors, computer glitches or the Scouts' failure to check the blacklist, known as the "perversion files," the newspaper said.

In at least 50 cases, the Scouts expelled suspected abusers, only to discover they had re-entered the organization and were accused of molesting again.

In other cases, officials failed to document reports of abuse in the first place, letting offenders stay in the program until new allegations came to light, the Times reported.

One scoutmaster was expelled in 1970 for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in Indiana. After being convicted of the crime, he went on to join two troops in Illinois between 1971 and 1988. He later admitted to molesting more than 100 boys, was convicted of the sexual assault of a Scout in 1989 and was sentenced to 100 years in prison, according to his file and court records.

In 1991, a Scout leader convicted of abusing a boy in Minnesota returned to his old troop shortly after getting out of jail.

http://news.yahoo.com/report-boy-scout-files-reveal-repeat-child-abuse-181201518.html

Boy Scout files reveal repeat child abuse by sexual predators

Los Angeles Times review of Boy Scout documents shows that a blacklist meant to protect boys from sexual predators too often failed in its mission.

By Jason Felch and Kim Christensen, Los Angeles Times

August 5, 2012
For nearly a century, the Boy Scouts of America has relied on a confidential blacklist known as the "perversion files" as a crucial line of defense against sexual predators.

Scouting officials say they've used the files to prevent hundreds of men who had been expelled for alleged sexual abuse from returning to the ranks. They've fought hard in court to keep the records from public view, saying confidentiality was needed to protect victims, witnesses and anyone falsely accused....

A Los Angeles Times review of more than 1,200 files dating from 1970 to 1991 found more than 125 cases across the country in which men allegedly continued to molest Scouts after the organization was first presented with detailed allegations of abusive behavior.

Predators slipped back into the program by falsifying personal information or skirting the registration process. Others were able to jump from troop to troop around the country thanks to clerical errors, computer glitches or the Scouts' failure to check the blacklist.

In some cases, officials failed to document reports of abuse in the first place, letting offenders stay in the organization until new allegations surfaced. In others, officials documented abuse but merely suspended the accused leader or allowed him to continue working with boys while on "probation."

In at least 50 cases, the Boy Scouts expelled suspected abusers, only to discover later that they had reentered the program and were accused of molesting again.

One scoutmaster was expelled in 1970 for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in Indiana. Even after being convicted of the crime, he went on to join two troops in Illinois between 1971 and 1988. He later admitted to molesting more than 100 boys, was convicted of the sexual assault of a Scout in 1989 and was sentenced to 100 years in prison, according to his file and court records.

In 1991, a Scout leader convicted of abusing a boy in Minnesota returned to his old troop — right after getting out of jail....

Richard Stenger, the head of a unit of the Sea Scouts — part of the Boy Scouts — was charged in 1971 with tying up and fondling three boys. Police found bondage equipment and books on pedophilia in his house.

He was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and a judge sentenced him to four years' probation, his file shows. The Scouts decided to suspend him during that period. But when the court-ordered probation ended, a local Scout executive and several parents successfully requested that the national office lift the suspension.

"I feel quite confident that no further problems will arise," wrote the local Scout executive, whose name is blacked out in the heavily redacted file.

Fourteen years later, in 1989, a parent notified the Boy Scouts that the 320-pound Stenger had padlocked her 11-year-old Scout in a harness and watched him dangle for 15 minutes during a boating trip, according to Stenger's file. Scouts notified police, who recovered from Stenger's home dozens of restraints and hundreds of images of children in bondage, including one of a blindfolded 6-year-old tied to a bed.

Two dozen former and current Scouts came forward to say they had been abused by Stenger as long ago as 1958.
  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-boyscouts-20120805-m,0,5822319.story

Survivorship Webinar - The Spirit of Healing - Janet Thomas - September 8

Survivorship Webinar - The Spirit of Healing - Janet Thomas -
September 8


Upcoming Webinar:
Saturday, September 8
12:00 noon Pacific Time
Presenter: Janet Thomas
"The Spirit of Healing"

Janet Thomas will discuss her book, "Day Breaks Over Dharamsala — A Memoir of Life Lost and Found," a journey through spiritual healing from mind control/ritual/sexual abuse. The deep dilemma for survivors of extreme abuse is the fundamental estrangement from the sacred self. How do we reclaim it? Integrate it? Restore the sense of a spirited and nurturing self? How do we connect to the place inside us — beyond and beneath our brilliant minds — that that nurtures and sustains us in our daily lives and in our relationships? These questions, and their answers, will be shared and explored.

Janet Thomas has been in active and conscious healing from ritual abuse/mind control experimentation for 25 years. Her parallel lives include many years as a poet, playwright, activist, magazine editor and author of non-fiction books, including "The Battle in Seattle — The Story Behind and Beyond the WTO Demonstrations." She lives and teaches in India and on an island in the Pacific Northwest.

REGISTRATION
Registration closes Thursday evening September 6, 2012

To reserve a space in the webinar, e-mail Shamai at shamai@survivorship.org  and give her this information:

1. Your name
2. The webinar you wish to attend: "The Spirit of Healing"
3. Amount and method of payment  (check, PayPal, money order)
4. Your preferred e-mail address (so we can send you instructions)
5. The name you will be using for the webinar. (This does not have to be your real name or your message board screen name.)

You will receive a confirmation email immediately and an invitation link and instructions after the registration closes

Complete details on all our webinars are at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html 

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Vast international child-p_rn network uncovered

Vast international child-porn network uncovered   

By DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer Aug 4, 2012

BOSTON (AP) -- The men came from different walks of life on two continents: a children's puppeteer in Florida, a hotel manager in Massachusetts, an emergency medical technician in Kansas, a day care worker in the Netherlands. In all, 43 men have been arrested over the past two years in a horrific, far-flung child porn network that unraveled like a sweater with a single loose thread....

Authorities have identified more than 140 young victims so far and say there is no end in sight as they pore through hundreds of thousands of images found on the suspects' computers. They are also trying to determine whether the men who talked about murder and cannibalism actually committed such acts or were just sharing twisted fantasies....

Robert Mikelsons, a 27-year-old day care worker who baby-sat the boy, was arrested. On his computer were thousands and thousands of images of children being molested and raped, including the boy holding the stuffed bunny.
Photos and online chats found on computers owned by Diduca and Mikelsons led to more than three dozen other suspects in seven countries, including Canada, Britain, Germany, Sweden and Mexico. The oldest victim in the Netherlands was 4, the youngest just 19 days old....

Mikelsons also received an 18-year sentence, followed by indefinite psychiatric commitment, after confessing to sexually abusing more than 80 children....

What they found on Arnett's computer was unlike anything some of the investigators had ever come across: long, graphic, online chats about his desire to abduct, kill and eat children. They said he had also made photos of a naked 2-year-old boy in a roasting pan inside his oven. The child and two other boys Arnett allegedly abused and photographed were later identified and found alive....
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHILD_PORN_NETWORK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-08-04-10-44-22


Arrests in major child porn investigation  Aug 4,2012
Some of the men charged in an international child porn investigation that has led to 43 arrests and the identification of more than 140 child victims....
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHILD_PORN_NETWORK_GLANCE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-08-04-10-28-26


Saturday, August 4, 2012

Rabbi’s sentence angers victims

Rabbi’s sentence angers victims
August 03, 2012 By Wesley Lowery, Globe Correspondent

Despite tearful pleas from victims, a judge sentenced a one-time religious instructor for a prominent Brookline school to 10 years probation Thursday for sexually abusing three of his students in Boston during the 1975-1976 school year.

The sentence for Rabbi Stanley Z. Levitt, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to four counts of ­indecent assault and battery on a child, stunned and angered the victims, who gathered in the ­Suffolk Superior courtroom to face their abuser and witness the sentencing. Levitt was also ordered to stay away from children, register as a sex offender, and wear a GPS monitor....

“He should have served jail time,” said Michael Brecher, who along with the two other former students at the Maimonides School, an Orthodox Jewish school, said that Levitt touched him sexually when he was a sixth-grader.

Delivering a victim-impact statement before the sentencing, Brecher said Levitt groped him while Brecher was recovering at Boston Children’s Hospital after part of his finger was sliced off in a classroom door....

The Globe has reported that after leaving Massachusetts in 1980, Levitt was charged with molesting three boys in Philadelphia. In the first of those cases, Levitt was found not guilty. In the second case, he pleaded no contest to accusations that he had showered with a young boy and received five years’ probation. The third allegation was withdrawn.
http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/08/02/rabbi-stanley-levitt-gets-years-probation-for-abusing-three-boys/5iygfQPcpYpvPcJ8SPI0cK/story.html 

Friday, August 3, 2012

Carlson sexually abused several children, victims tell state police, Harrison grabs first U.S. Olympic judo gold - was sexually abused

Carlson sexually abused several children, victims tell state police By Nok-Noi Ricker, BDN Staff

Aug. 01, 2012

BANGOR, Maine — The Rev. Robert Carlson sexually abused several children over the last four decades and groomed them to be his victims, according to people interviewed by the Maine State Police during a now concluded investigation into allegations leveled against the late community leader.

“There clearly were victims of sexual abuse that indicated that Bob Carlson was their abuser,” Lt. Christopher Coleman, commander of the Maine State Police’s Major Crimes Unit for the northern part of the state, said Wednesday. “It appears that it occurred over many years and it caused a lot of trauma to many people.”....

Carlson was a longtime religious and civic leader who committed suicide by jumping from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge on Nov. 13, 2011, shortly after learning detectives were looking into allegations of sex abuse involving him and a boy....

The state police report includes interviews with at least 18 people, including Carlson’s victims. Also interviewed were the former president of Husson University, a Penobscot County sheriff’s deputy and detective, a Bangor police officer and a therapist who treated some of Carlson’s victims. They said they had either received information about or witnessed Carlson engage in criminal or inappropriate sexual behavior over the last four decades....

Carlson helped found and was president of Penobscot Community Health Care, leading the charge to provide those less fortunate with health care and dental services. He also was a founder of Hope House, a Bangor shelter for those with drug and alcohol addiction.

He “had full access” at the therapist’s treatment center, and after Carlson took part in a staff meeting one day, “administration told Bob that he was no longer welcome at the facility,” the report said. No dates are given to indicate when this happened.

The therapist “advised that monetary control or influence was part of Bob’s control over some of the victims” and “that there was a grooming process [that] occurred with the victims.”

Carlson was a longtime church leader in Orrington who had served as chaplain for the Bangor and Brewer police and fire departments, the Penobscot County Jail and Husson College, now Husson University....

The first person to report concerns about Carlson’s behavior said he was ignored by his superiors. Former Penobscot County Sheriff Timothy Richardson has said he questioned Carlson’s actions in the 1970s after seeing Carlson in the control room at the Penobscot County Jail in the middle of the night with young boys, sometimes rubbing them all over, including their buttocks.

Richardson, who was a young part-time deputy, said he reported his concerns to two superiors, both of whom are now deceased. He said they were concerned but didn’t take it anywhere.

“They didn’t want to take it anywhere,” the former sheriff told the Bangor Daily News in November. “Back then they [religious leaders] were above suspicion of child abuse.”
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/08/01/news/bangor/carlson-investigation-reveals-many-witnesses-of-sexual-abuse-other-victims/



Harrison grabs first U.S. Olympic judo gold  August 2nd, 2012


Kayla Harrison says she almost quit judo because of sexual abuse by a coach. Instead, she’s now the first American to win Olympic gold in the sport....

She started judo at roughly age 7. But to get to this point, she has said, she needed to overcome sexual abuse – starting at age 13 – by the person who was then coaching her.

“When I was 16, I told a close friend of mine, who immediately told my mother, and she immediately went to the police and pressed charges. The FBI got involved, and he’s actually serving 10 years … in prison,” Harrison told CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield on July 9, weeks before the Olympics began.

“Every day was a lie. Inside, I was in constant turmoil, but on the outside I was supposed to be this golden girl and so happy,” Harrison said.

Harrison said she almost dropped judo because of the abuse. She said that it was not only “hard to deal with to be normal, but also to compete in the sport.”

But she decided to stick with judo, going on to win gold at the 2008 Junior World Championships and the 2010 World Championships.

“You get to the point where you decide that you don’t want to be a victim anymore and that you’re not going to live your life like that,” she said.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/02/harrison-grabs-first-u-s-olympic-judo-gold/